To all you digital Encyclopedia Browns out there: The case of the Google Mystery Barge is now closed. Google has issued a statement explaining the mystery. "Google Barge … A floating data center? A wild party boat? A barge housing the last remaining dinosaur? Sadly, none of the above," a Google spokesperson said in a statement released Wednesday. "Although it's still early days and things may change, we're exploring using the barge as an interactive space where people can learn about new technology.

Put down the barbecue tongs and flee the back yard this Labor Day with a last-minute stay at Treasure Island in Las Vegas . Three nights plus tickets to Bill Cosby's live show costs $297 this weekend only. Of course, you'll have to find your own barbecue. The deal: The K Hotels' TI: Treasure Island offer comes by way of hotel booking website K Hotels. The deal includes two tickets to Cosby's performance at 8 p.m. Saturday and breakfast for two. Call and use the promo code "LDAY" to get this deal.

If it weren't for Google trying to cover it up, the old sea-worn barge stacked four stories high with customized shipping containers may not have become an object of global fascination. But Google being Google with all its out-there projects - many ripped from the pages of sci-fi bestsellers - the secrecy behind the barge has taken on a life of its own. Google isn't saying anything, and having guards shoo away prying eyes has only added to the mystery. Since the barge was discovered 10 days ago, my imagination has raced through mind-blowing possibilities.

The map you printed in your April 18 article on Treasure Island was provided by Merrill Lynch Hubbard [the property owner]. How green it looked, with open space and those small houses. Don't you think the public deserves a more accurate depiction of the development--one that shows almost 50% of the property designated for the 17 estate-size houses that can be up to 7,700 square feet each or the park that is little more than two acres running only 25 feet wide for much of its distance?

From the days when mobile homes covered the seaside hills to the years of court battles over the property's future, the saga of Treasure Island in South Laguna has been convoluted. Last month's apparent end to the fighting was remarkable for the tempered comments that resulted. One reason for the relative harmony was the outcome. The developer of the 30 acres won permission to build, but opponents of the original building plans won significant concessions.

San Francisco's plans for Treasure Island (Jan. 9) sound great, but I'm concerned that the only mention of earthquake safety is buried near the end of the article. Treasure Island is man-made, the worst possible place to build in a seismic zone. Much of the earthquake damage that occurred during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake was on man-made land near the bay. And the Marina District, site of extensive damage from the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, was built on landfill from debris from the 1906 earthquake.

Treasure Island, considered the biggest development proposed in 15 years, will undergo a monthlong review by the City Council, beginning today . The project would redevelop a 30-acre site along Coast Highway from a mobile home park to a lavish resort with a hotel, villas and million-dollar homes. City leaders back the resort because hotel visitor taxes could generate an additional $1 million a year.

The proposed redevelopment of Treasure Island from a mobile home park to an oceanfront resort is the subject of today's Planning Commission meeting. City officials have said the project is the most significant issue facing Laguna Beach. The resort would expand the city's tax base and provide beach access and a public bluff-top park. Also part of the proposal is a 175- to 250-room hotel and about 37 homes. More than 50% of the resort would be accessible to the public, said Jill D.

Public opposition has prompted the City Council to reconsider several issues related to the redevelopment of the Treasure Island mobile home park into an upscale seaside resort. The resort's projected height, which could block ocean views, and the development of 37 homes on the 30-acre site has raised the ire of community activists and environmentalists, who voiced their objections at a City Council meeting this week.

A British Olympic gold medalist in sailing was killed Thursday when a catamaran training for the upcoming America's Cup capsized in San Francisco Bay. Andrew "Bart" Simpson was part of an 11-man crew aboard Artemis Racing's AC72 vessel when the boat flipped northwest of Treasure Island about 1 p.m., officials said. Simpson, 36, served as the Swedish team's strategist. An America's Cup chase boat pulled the sailors from the water, but Simpson was trapped under the 72-foot catamaran for up to 15 minutes before he was reached, San Francisco Fire Department spokeswoman Mindy Talmadge said.

April 1, 2013 | By Jay Jones, This post has been updated. See note below for details.

The match is still on for April 12 at Treasure Island Resort & Casino in Las Vegas . Angelo "La Cobra" Santana will take on Bahodir Mamadjonov (12-1, 8 KOs) from Uzbekistan. [Updated, 1:58 p.m. April 8: An earlier version of this post said Angelo "La Cobra" Santana would face Carlos Cardenas. Cardenas has injured his shoulder and has had to withdraw from the match. Santana will now face Bahodir Mamadjonov. Santana and Cardenas were to face off in a 12-round bout; this will be a 10-round bout.

A brief, long-lost essay by "Treasure Island" author Robert Louis Stevenson will be published on Friday, the Associated Press reports. The essay will appear in the Strand magazine, a mystery fiction quarterly out of Birmingham, Mich. The Strand has previously uncovered famous authors' unpublished works. In 2009, there was first Mark Twain and then Graham Greene ; in 2011, Dashiell Hammett and Cornell Woolrich ; and in 2012, James M. Cain . Although short, the Stevenson piece, titled "Books and Reading.

Argh, mateys! It's that time again: National Talk Like a Pirate Day. How to talk like a pirate? The Johnny Depp movies are a guide, the Disney ride they were based on, and the Talk Like A Pirate Day website . But readers know the best reference for pirate talk -- invented, yes, but still iconic -- is Robert Louis Stevenson's classic adventure tale, " Treasure Island . " Here are some lines from the book. Feel free to borrow from them for pirate-speak to brighten up your day. There must be a way to work the expressions "smart as paint" or "I'll stake my wig" into that meeting you've got this afternoon.

When letter-writers need to insert a note after they've already used a postscript, what do they do? Add a post-postscript, or, PPS. Those three letters also apply to my reading plans this summer, which center on three simple topics. Pirates. Poems. Sharks. The pirates belong to former British poet laureate Andrew Motion, who continues the story of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island" in his forthcoming novel, "Silver: Return to Treasure Island" (Crown: $24, August)

In its own sweetly bombastic way the 2008 remake of "Journey to the Center of the Earth" did the job, the job being a 21st century 3-D bash starring Brendan Fraser - an actor who gives his all to the green screen, every time - and loosely based on the 19th century Jules Verne adventure, a natural for the movies. Its script proceeded from the idea that Verne, science fiction visionary, was in reality writing about real places and genuine fantastic phenomena only disguised as fiction.